Nixon library is free today; early birds get pie

2014-02-15 08:10:40

Admission will be free at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda Monday for Washington's Birthday, while the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley will mark the holiday with a free set of family-oriented activities.

The Nixon Library will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the first 300 guests receiving a free slice of cherry pie.

Actors portraying the presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt – will be available for pictures.

The actors will give an educational talk about the presidents they are portraying at 1 p.m.

The U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West will perform in the East Room at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The Reagan Library will conduct its 22nd annual Presidents Day Celebration from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., including crafts, musical entertainment, storytelling and presidential and first lady lookalikes.

Admission is free, with food available for purchase.

The library will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with its regular admission rates – $21 for adults, $15 for children ages 11 to 17 years old, $6 for children ages 3 to 10, and $18 for ages 62 and older. Children 2 and under are admitted free.

More information on the Reagan Library is available by calling (805) 522-2977 or online at reaganfoundation.org.

Although commonly known as Presidents Day, the Monday holiday is still legally Washington's Birthday.

The holiday was shifted from Feb. 22 to the third Monday in February 1971 under the terms of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968. Because the holiday falls between Feb. 15 and 21 it can never fall on the actual anniversary of Washington's birth in 1732.

The term Presidents Day began being popularized in the 1980s, when retailers combined sales formerly held in conjunction with Washington and Lincoln's birthdays.